Flexible carrying container



Oct. 16, 1956 L. s. EVANGUELIDI 2,766,918

FLEXIBLE CARRYING CONTAINER Filed Aug. 3, 1955 II VLWTOE '"IIHIHHWHIIHHII I Zl/DASEMINGMLIDI flTTCP/VEY United States FLEmLE CARRYING CONTAINER 7 Linda S. Evanguelidi, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Application August 3, 1953, Serial No. 372,057

Claims. (Cl. 224-5) This invention relates to a flexible carrying container which is particularly suitable for use in carrying letters or other items of this nature. For example, in the mail distribution department of a post oflice, a mail clerk would find the container useful for transporting stacks of assorted mail from the distributors cases to the carriers ledges or shipment to the substations as the case may be. Instead of juggling a tall stack of enveloped letters, arranged along the length of his arm, it is only necessary for him to quickly arrange the letters in this open-faced container, the container serving to prevent the otherwise inevitable tendency of the letters to slip out of the clerks grasp.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch for letters, circulars, etc., which pouch shall be very eflicient in operation for rapid loading of the letters or circulars therein and equally rapid in unloading at the destination, and one which can be manipulated with ease without the exercise of skill on the part of the operator.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch of the type referred to which shall be simple in construction, portable and rugged. in structure.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch which will carry considerable amount of material at one time.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch which is of flexible materials to enable folding the same when not in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch which is sufliciently flexible to follow the contour of a human chest and body, said pouch being fabricated of flexible material and having spaced ribs for maintaining the flexible material in the desired shape.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch which is open at each end and which has a bottom that is releasable for unloading the pouch.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch which is open at each end and which has an uninterrupted slot in its front wall to provide ready access to a stack of letters supported in the pouch.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pouch having an upper part somewhat smaller than the lower part so that receptacle is retractible for transportation purposes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch which is open at each end and which has an interrupted slot in the front wall to provide ready access for loading or unloading through the slot at any level.

A further object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch which has a hinged bottom closing off a portion of the bottom end of the pouch leaving a front opening through which a few letters can be released without the necessity of unlatching the bottom.

A further object of the invention is to provide a carrying pouch which is sufficiently flexible to be supported along a human arm when the arm is bent from a substantially vertical position at the shoulder throughout a 2,766,918 Patented Oct. 16, 1956 ice gradual curve ina substantially horizontal position at the wrist, whereby the letters can be guided from the vertical stack in the pouch into a horizontal pile on the receiving table.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent upon examination of the following specification and appended drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the carrying pouch;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof without the carrying straps;

Fig. 3 is a side detail of the lower end portion of the pouch;

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view of the lower end of the pouch, with the bottom dropped for discharging letters;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective detail showing of the reinforcement structure of the pouch; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic View of the pouch showing a stack of letters being unloaded therefrom by a person using the pouch, the use being shown in phantom.

The pouch includes a flexible body portion which is fabricated from a woven fabric material, such as canvas, reinforced by non-flexible C-shaped ribs, so as to maintain a generally C-shaped rectangular cross sectional form. The flexible body portion, generally referred to by the numeral 2, has a rear wall 3, opposed parallel side walls 4, 4, and a sloted front wall comprising a pair of longitudinal flanges 6 and 7, the marginal edges 8 and 9 of which are spaced to provide a front slot 10 which extends the full length of the container. The G-shaped re,- inforcing ribs 11, 12 and 13 are suitably secured to the flexible walls 3-7 at the upper and lower ends. and central area thereof, as, for example, by means of enclosing, hems 11', 13' formed integrally in the upper and lower extremities of the flexible body, and a tape 12' stitched to the central area thereof.

In use, the pouch is suspended from a harness 14 in free-hanging condition, and is maintained distended by the weight of a rigid, relatively heavy bottom section 16. With the pouch thus suspended, the ribs 11, 12, 13 are disposed in vertically spaced, parallel, horizontal planes with the flexible body portion of the pouch free to bend along its longitudinal axis, while the ribs maintain the flexible body fabric in the form of a container which has the uninterrupted slot 10in its front wall.

The lowermost rib 13 is secured by rivets 20 to the upper margin of the rigid bottom section 16, and supports the same. The bottom section 16 may be formed of sheet metal, and has a rear wall 17 and side walls 18 and 19. A bottom 21 is hingedly connected to the rear wall 17 by means of a hinge 22 and is normally maintained in closed position by means of latch elements 23 which are attached to the under surface of the bottom on pivot pins 24. The latch elements 23 engage notches 27 in angle brackets 25 which are fixed to the corners of bottom section 16 by rivets 20'. The lower edges of the side walls 18, 19 are inclined upwardly, the bottom 21 when closed being similarly inclined whereby to retain the bottom of the stack of letters in a somewhat tilted position so as to restrain them from sliding out the open front end of the bottom section 16. The depth of the bottom section 16 from front to rear is less than the depth of the main body portion of the container front to rear, thereby providing an opening 26 in the front and at the bottom of the pouch.

The harness 14 consists of straps 28 each secured, as by sewing, at 29, to the hem 11 of the upper rib 11, and each having a free end provided with a series of button holes 30, one pair of which may be selectively engaged with the respective buttons 31 secured to hem 11' on opposite sides of the pouch.

The straps 28 have their intermediate portions attached in crossed relation by means of a slot 32 in one strap, through which the other strap is passed.

In use the pouch is positioned with the reanwall 3 resting against the body of theirnail clerk (indicated in phantom at 33), and with the slot 10 facing forwardly. With the bottom 21 latched in raised position, the clerk walks along and picks up the letters with two hands and deposits them in the pouch. This may be accomplished by twisting the letters to a vertical position and passing them through slot 10 (or, if the clerk chooses, he can insert them through the open upper end of the pouch, by running his hand down through the length of slot 10 until the letters are deposited on the bottom 21'). The front flanges 6 and 7, of course, prevent the letters from toppling out the front of the pouch regardless of how. high the letters are stacked within the pouch. .Upon reaching his destination the clerk then raises the lower end of the pouch, resting it on the table while its rear wall is rested against the arm (e. g. the left arm is illustrated in Fig. 6). The arm can then be positioned over the receiving table 34 and the pouch flexed into a broadly curved coutour as shown in Fig. 6, with the lower end of the pouch directed substantially horizontally. The bottom 21 is then unlatched and may be laid down upon the table 34 so that the stack of letters may be slid across the upper surface thereof onto the receiving table 34 in an orderly horizontally extending row. If desired a manual pressure can be effected by running the hand throughout the length of the slot until the last letter is discharged from the lower end of the pouch.

In event only a small stack of letters has been collected in the pouch when the receiving table is reached, it is not necessary to unlatch the bottom, since the letters in the pouch can be removed manually through the front opening 26.

I claim:

1. A mail collecting and depositing pouch comprising: an elongated, longitudinally collapsible and flexible container body capable ofbeing bowed from end to end while maintaining its length and cross sectional shape, including a rear wall, a pair of opposed side walls and a pair of front wall sections projecting toward one another from the side walls ina common plane, with their inner margins spaced to define a slot extending continuously throughout the length of said body and open at both upper and lower ends thereof, and a series of longitudinally spaced reinforcing ribs of rectangular C-shaped including at least one rib intermediate the ends of the pouch, attached to said walls for maintaining said walls laterallydistended to provide in said container body a rectangular cross section, elongated from side to side, corresponding generally to the marginal shape of a letter envelope; a bottom section including rigid rear and side walls attached to the rear and side walls of said collapsible body at the lower ends thereof and substantially in common planes therewith; a rigid bottom hinged to the lower portion of the rear wall of said bottom section, for downward swinging movement to a position facilitating'sliding of letters out of the lower end of the pouch; and means for releasably latching said bottom to said body section in a raised position providing a support for a stack of letters in the pouch.

2. A pouch as defined in claim 1, wherein said collapsible body projects forwardly from and overhangs said bottom section. V

3. A pouch'as defined in claim 1, including shoulder straps for securing the upper end of the pouch from a carriers shoulders.

4. A pouch as defined in claim 1, wherein said bottom defines an acute dihedral angle with the inner face of said rear wall of the bottom section, so as to support the lowermost letters in upwardly and forwardly inclined positions.

5. A pouch as defined in claim 1, wherein said latch ing means comprises a latch lever pivoted to the underside of said bottom and projecting beyond one end of said bottom and beyond one of said side walls of the bottom section, and a latch keeper secured to said one K side wall and having a slot to receive said latch lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 849,976 Cartmel Apr. 9, 1907 1,797,097 May Mar. 17, 1931 2,155,191 Hylton Apr. 18, 1939 2,212,129 Rust Aug. 20, 1940 2,570,167 Tobey Oct. 2, 1951 

